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1-24 IN is staying busy in Mosul. Caught five terrorists after rolling up on them in their garage hideout. Also, interesting how small the Army can become once you've been in for a while. LTC Kurilla was my S-3 when I was a LT in Italy and Will Shockley is a JTAC (Joint Tactical Air Controller) who was attached to my company during its JRTC rotation. Happy reading.
http://michaelyon.blogspot.com/
Sunday, May 08, 2005
Deuce-Four Rounding Up Bombers
"Shoot me, shoot me"
Mosul
There's been a lot of "insurgent hunting" going on in Mosul. Deuce-Four was following a tip when they rolled into a car service garage and searched every car. They found a large car bomb, one that would have caused similar havoc as that which exploded amid the children and killed little Farah last Monday. I saw Deuce-Four soldiers question several men, taking two into custody.
The next day, we were patrolling the same area. I was riding in the belly of the command Stryker, with the radio pressed to my ear, listening to LTC Kurilla, who was standing in the Vehicle Commander's position, giving instructions to his men. There was constant communication between the three Strykers with us.
"Keep an eye on that white car at 2 o'clock."
"Roger, got him, he's pulling away."
"Roger."
We continued to patrol, searching telltale signs of insurgent activity, and searching for men whose faces the American soldiers have memorized.
The was radio pressed to my ear while I watched the television monitor for the Stryker machine gun. While I sat in the belly, LTC Kurilla stood about two feet away from me, holding his rifle and scanning from the air-guard position, when he said over the intercom to the driver, "Head down past that garage where we got the VBIED yesterday."
"Roger."
As we passed the garage, five terrorists happened to be there; LTC Kurilla spotted four. The Strykers are large, but quiet, and we had surprised the enemy.
Kurilla yelled into the intercom: "There's four suspicious cats, block left!" [Turn left]
"Stop!" yelled Kurilla, and then one man pulled out a pistol, I watched him on the screen running . . . bam! bam! bam! bam! bam! "Shoot him Munch, he's running for the trailer!"
But Munch did not have time to shoot. Kurilla kept firing his rifle, I saw dust splash, and the man disappeared between some parked trucks, then Kurilla said, "Drop ramp!"
Q, Will Shockley, and Sergeant Major Prosser all ran out the back and I followed, with Kurilla just behind me. The other three Strykers halted, dropped ramps and about twenty soldiers swarmed into the open garage, while others stayed aboard with the big guns.
I followed closely behind Kurilla as the soldiers rushed in ready to shoot, and there they found a man Kurilla had shot, barefoot, lying on his belly in filthy, oily mud, amid human excrement, next to his 9mm pistol. He had fallen in an open air toilet, and he lay there belly-shot, three bullets. The armed man looked at me, blinking but making no sound, with what I imagined was an "I've been shot, and caught" look on this face.
As other soldiers detained the other four men (all five turned out to be known terrorists, and another pistol was found), other soldiers flex-cuffed the shot man, then saw his massive belly wound, and Kurilla told them to cut off the cuffs, yelled for a medic, who began treating the man.
SFC Robert Bowman began questioning the man through a translator while the medic treated him and tried to stop the bleeding.
"You are going to die," Bowman said, "I want you to answer some questions."
The man touched his pointer finger to his forehead between his eyes and said, "Shoot me, shoot me. I want to die."
We all thought he would die, but LTC Kurilla ordered the medic to try to save him, and they took him to our hospital, the same one where so many Americans had died, the one that little Farah never made it to. Despite that Kurilla shot him three times in the abdomen, the man is still alive, and his four accomplices are in custody, their car-bombing days having ended.
http://michaelyon.blogspot.com/
Sunday, May 08, 2005
Deuce-Four Rounding Up Bombers
"Shoot me, shoot me"
Mosul
There's been a lot of "insurgent hunting" going on in Mosul. Deuce-Four was following a tip when they rolled into a car service garage and searched every car. They found a large car bomb, one that would have caused similar havoc as that which exploded amid the children and killed little Farah last Monday. I saw Deuce-Four soldiers question several men, taking two into custody.
The next day, we were patrolling the same area. I was riding in the belly of the command Stryker, with the radio pressed to my ear, listening to LTC Kurilla, who was standing in the Vehicle Commander's position, giving instructions to his men. There was constant communication between the three Strykers with us.
"Keep an eye on that white car at 2 o'clock."
"Roger, got him, he's pulling away."
"Roger."
We continued to patrol, searching telltale signs of insurgent activity, and searching for men whose faces the American soldiers have memorized.
The was radio pressed to my ear while I watched the television monitor for the Stryker machine gun. While I sat in the belly, LTC Kurilla stood about two feet away from me, holding his rifle and scanning from the air-guard position, when he said over the intercom to the driver, "Head down past that garage where we got the VBIED yesterday."
"Roger."
As we passed the garage, five terrorists happened to be there; LTC Kurilla spotted four. The Strykers are large, but quiet, and we had surprised the enemy.
Kurilla yelled into the intercom: "There's four suspicious cats, block left!" [Turn left]
"Stop!" yelled Kurilla, and then one man pulled out a pistol, I watched him on the screen running . . . bam! bam! bam! bam! bam! "Shoot him Munch, he's running for the trailer!"
But Munch did not have time to shoot. Kurilla kept firing his rifle, I saw dust splash, and the man disappeared between some parked trucks, then Kurilla said, "Drop ramp!"
Q, Will Shockley, and Sergeant Major Prosser all ran out the back and I followed, with Kurilla just behind me. The other three Strykers halted, dropped ramps and about twenty soldiers swarmed into the open garage, while others stayed aboard with the big guns.
I followed closely behind Kurilla as the soldiers rushed in ready to shoot, and there they found a man Kurilla had shot, barefoot, lying on his belly in filthy, oily mud, amid human excrement, next to his 9mm pistol. He had fallen in an open air toilet, and he lay there belly-shot, three bullets. The armed man looked at me, blinking but making no sound, with what I imagined was an "I've been shot, and caught" look on this face.
As other soldiers detained the other four men (all five turned out to be known terrorists, and another pistol was found), other soldiers flex-cuffed the shot man, then saw his massive belly wound, and Kurilla told them to cut off the cuffs, yelled for a medic, who began treating the man.
SFC Robert Bowman began questioning the man through a translator while the medic treated him and tried to stop the bleeding.
"You are going to die," Bowman said, "I want you to answer some questions."
The man touched his pointer finger to his forehead between his eyes and said, "Shoot me, shoot me. I want to die."
We all thought he would die, but LTC Kurilla ordered the medic to try to save him, and they took him to our hospital, the same one where so many Americans had died, the one that little Farah never made it to. Despite that Kurilla shot him three times in the abdomen, the man is still alive, and his four accomplices are in custody, their car-bombing days having ended.
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